The Springfield Preservation Trust will hold an annual awards program this week on Wednesday, May 9, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm at Tower Square. The public is invited to join in and celebrate individuals and organizations who completed noteworthy restorations and rehabilitations in Springfield’s historic neighborhoods. "Honorees receive recognition for rejuvenating structures that reflect and exemplify the original builder’s vision," says the Preservation Trust’s Tat Conway. "This singular contribution may seem minute, but through these small and continuous efforts, neighborhoods, and ultimately Springfield, will be aesthetically revivified for the greater wealth of the community." A photo display of award-winning houses will be available at the event, remaining open to the public through May 12. From May 15 to 29, the display will be available at Eastfield Mall.
The Armoury-Quadrangle Civic Association will host an open house on Thursday, May 17, 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Kimball Towers on Apremont Triangle, 140 Chestnut Street. Mayor Charles Ryan will be the honored guest and speaker. The AQCA May newsletter (PDF) also reminds us that there is another downtown walking tour on Saturday, May 12 (on "the culture of the Quadrangle and Mattoon Street" with Guy McClain, director of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum) as well as that annual pancake breakfast thingy on Main Street, Saturday, May 19, 8:00 to 11:00 am, somewhere on Main Street, $3 adults and $1 children. The newsletter also includes an interesting note about MassLive.com‘s current effort to locate neighborhood bloggers in an attempt to connect more with happenings in the city. The more Springfield-based blogs, the better, in my opinion, although I’d prefer to see more independent ones cropping up where possible, drawing not on a sense of obligation but on a real desire to write, create and share (for instance, Springfield activist Michaelann Bewsee’s recent entree into the blogosphere, in which she discusses with honest frankness some of the struggles around homeless advocacy). The bottom line here is that MassLive.com is offering a platform for neighborhood news, and it would be great to see people take them up on it, and gradually see all the city’s diverse people and places more effectively represented in the online world.
In a tremendous sally into the 21st century, the Springfield City Library has updated its Web site to include an interactive calendar showcasing events at branches across the city. Events are clickable for more information. The real coup is that users can sign up for events through the calendar rather than having to take the extra step to contact the appropriate person, which often varies per event. Now if they would just add an RSS feed.
In other library news, branch manager Reggie Wilson handed me a flyer today for Jeanne Birdsall‘s visit to the central library this coming Saturday, May 12, 1:00 pm in the community room downstairs. Birdsall is the award-winning author of The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy, and will read from her book, answer questions and provide autographs. Free autographed books will be available to the first 20 children. Plus, there will be refreshments. This is not to be missed if you are a Penderwicks fan.
The Springfield Cultural Council has managed just that with a recent updating of its Web site into a blog format using a highly-respected open source (freely available) tool known as WordPress. If other institutions in the city are interested in learning how the Cultural Council accomplished this step—transforming an existing Web address, or URL, into a blog—drop them a line. Using a blog instead of whatever you’re already doing for your site is a powerful way to get your information and news out to the public, particularly because of RSS feeds, which can function like email in-boxes when your audience uses a feed tool like my personal favorite, netvibes.com, to subscribe. Case in point for the blog’s effectiveness: how else would you learn about resident and Historic Commissioner Bob McCarroll’s letter to Mayor Ryan, concerning the perceived underuse of CityStage‘s 70- or 80-seat Winifred Arms Studio Theatre intended for community groups? (The studio is currently hosting a run of the play "P.S.: Your Cat is Dead.")
The Hartford-Springfield Economic Partnership is hosting its annual gathering Friday, May 18, 7:45 to 11:30 am at Enfield’s Asnuntuck Community College. The program (PDF) describes the guest speaker, Steve Van Beek, as having "special insight into a wide range of areas related to creating a best-in-class regional airport." Along with main emphasis on Bradley International Airport, the state-of-the-region conference will also feature the results of the first-ever Connecticut Business & Industry Association collaborative interstate business survey, as well as updates on planning major electric transmission projects, regional business marketing and workforce efforts, and the rollout of internhere.com.
The New England News Forum will host a media discussion on Thursday, May 24, 6:30 to 9:00 pm as part of its Civic News Library Listening Series, which "puts media experts together with active citizens for directed discussion and informal dialogue," according to director Bill Densmore. The speakers include four "experts"—James Boylan, founding editor of the Columbia Journalism Review; myself, author of Urban Compass highlighting Springfield; Pulitzer Prize-winner writer Madeleine Blais of the UMass Amherst journalism program; and Larry McDermott, publisher of Springfield daily The Republican. Beforehand the same evening, the Young Professional Society in the region is meeting up again at Cobalt starting at 5:00 pm. Inquiries about the event can be sent to springfieldyps@yahoo.com.
Update: Ensuring near-zero attendance at the NENF event listed above, the highly-networked Keep Springfield Beautiful has just announced plans to hold its follow-up celebration event on Thursday, May 24, starting at 5:30 pm at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Senior project manager Ivette Cruz writes, "This event will allow us to recognize our participating organizations [over 150] and celebrate the accomplishments of our Keep Springfield Beautiful project."
